Polio teams to reach out to 71,446 children in three days

CHITRAL: A three-day-long anti-polio campaign started in Chitral on Monday.

In this regard, a function was held here in which additional deputy commissioner Minhas Uddin launched the drive by administering drops to c child.

Speaking on the occasion, he said despite resource constraints the local health department has played a key role in keeping Chitral a polio-free district.

he said the district administration would continue extending all-out support to the department so that new generation can be protected from the crippling disease.

Coordinator for the Extended Programme on Immunization (EPI) Dr Fayyaz Roomi said a well-planned strategy was in place to cover the 71,446 children under the age of five during the drive in the district of Chitral. He said 550 polio teams had been constituted who would be monitored by 117 area incharges and 26 union council monitoring officers.

Besides, teams would also be administering polio drops to children at nine transit points.

Dr Roomi said due to snowfall, Broghil had been excluded from the three-day polio campaign. He said a one-day catch-up drive would also be launched to cover children who might be missed out during the main campaign.–Syed Nazir Hussain